Page 13 of Only Lovers in the Building

“I threw that in there.”

Kylie made a face. “Too bad. That would’ve spiced things up.”

Lily felt compelled to cut through the nonsense. “Sounds like he was trying to get to know you.”

“Exactly,” Kylie chimed in. “Did you answer any of his questions? Or did you just sit there, brooding, smoking, drinking wine?”

“Vaping, but yeah. Pretty much.”

Lily was starting to think the lawyer’s only fault was being a normal person and a decent human being.

Kylie scoffed. “You’re hopeless.”

Noah returned fire. “You’re in love with your boss. That’s a hopeless situation!”

“Which boss?” Lily asked. The current one in Lake Como, or any one of the previous ones?

“There’s only one,” Kylie admitted quietly. “Presently, he’s sipping limoncello at a plaza by a fountain. There’s an IG post

to prove it.”

“Oh no...” Lily whispered. Falling for your boss was the world’s oldest mistake. No good could come of it.

“It’s tragic,” Noah said.

“You’d be in love with him, too, if you met him.”

She handed over her phone open to the Instagram account of one blindingly handsome Frederico Costa, Miami-based architect.

Lily recoiled in horror.

“What is it?” Kylie asked, alarmed.

“A hot, single, Italian architect is the stuff of movies and books. They don’t exist in real life.”

“He’s very real,” Kylie assured her. “But I wouldn’t mind reading one of those books. Could you recommend one?”

“Books are great, but this is real life,” Lily said. “Quit your job. Save yourself.”

Noah touched Lily’s arm. “We can’t all quit our jobs.”

That was a fair point, but Lily saw no other option.

“Speaking of books,” Noah said, in an obvious attempt to change the subject that he’d introduced, “I’m almost done with The Sweetest Lie . Two chapters to go. Don’t spoil it.”

“Spoiler. The guy gets the girl,” Kylie said bitterly. “In real life, the guy ignores the girl, barely notices when she walks

into a room. All he wants from her is a protein-packed breakfast and his favorite pasta for dinner, stacked in containers

in the Sub-Zero fridge.”

“Oh, honey,” Lily said.

“It’s okay. I’ll get over it.”

Lily looked around the table. They were living embodiments of the tropes. Noah, as bold as he seemed, was scared shitless

of intimacy. Kylie was in the throes of unrequited love. As for Lily, she was the spinster anguishing over the one who got

away. If this was the Regency, she’d cry over his perfumed letters. Sadly, she’d deleted all of Darren’s texts. There was

little physical evidence left of their love affair. More realistically, she was the new girl in town, obsessed with her handsome

neighbor. That girl would end up in tears at Terminal 4 of Miami International Airport come departure day.

If this were an e-book, these overlapping storylines would tie up neatly around the 90 percent mark, but this was real life.

Everything was up in the air.

Desperate to save the night, Noah asked Kylie what she was drinking.

“A sauvignon blanc,” she replied. “It’s not bad.”

“It’s your birthday! We should drink champagne!”

“Hold on!” Lily looked from one to the other. “Is this a birthday dinner?”

“Yes, unfortunately,” Kylie replied, miserable.

It all made sense. The attitude, the drama, the low-grade depression... This was a birthday dinner, and there was honestly

nothing worse. “Happy birthday!” Lily managed to say. “Noah’s right. We should celebrate.”

“I love it when I’m right.” Noah flagged the waiter and tried ordering champagne. “A good bottle, but not too good, within reason.”

“It’s my thirtieth,” Kylie intervened. “I need the good stuff to get through it. You and your fat commission can afford it.”

“Within reason,” Noah repeated.

The waiter gave up. “I’ll send the sommelier.”

“I can’t get over it,” Kylie moaned. “Thirty! Jesus!”

“I just turned thirty, and it’s not so bad,” Lily said with a slight one-shoulder shrug.

Noah and Kylie cut her a look.

Though her track record didn’t set her up as a subject matter expert on aging with grace, she would share what she’d learned

these past months. They could do with it what they wished.

“You get clear about some things,” Lily said. “You know what you don’t want and what you won’t put up with. That’s the best

I can explain it.”

“I’m thirty-three,” Noah said. “I know what I don’t want.”

“Let’s hear it,” Kylie said.

Noah itemized his list on his fingers. “I don’t want to answer a million questions. I don’t want to meet anyone’s parents

or even their siblings. I don’t want to make long-term plans. I don’t want to know my lover’s favorite author, book, movie,

or song. I just want to know what they like in bed and what they do for fun. It’s really that simple. I didn’t move to Miami

to become some man’s wife.”

“Well, I don’t want to be alone on my birthday,” Kylie said. “I had to practically beg a stranger to come out tonight.”

“Hey!” Lily protested.

“No offense. I’m grateful for you, but can you see how it’s depressing for me?”

“I had dinner with my parents on my thirtieth,” Lily said. “That was truly depressing.”

“My parents are back Minnesota,” Kylie said. “I don’t have many friends in Miami.”

“I’m sitting right here,” Noah pointed out.

“Plus, there’s that guy, Jeremy, right?” Lily said. “He’s a friend of yours.”

“He’s a baby,” Kylie said.

“What about my neighbor, Ben?” Lily asked. “He’s friendly.”

“He’s a flirt ,” Kylie said. “There’s a difference.”

“He’s a poet,” Noah said, correcting them both. “It goes with the territory.”

“Anyway, when I first moved in, Belle kept him all to herself,” Kylie said. “Or was it Bella? I have no idea.”

Noah shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. She’s not coming around anymore. Too bad. I liked her.”

Lily’s fingers tightened around the stem of her martini glass. Were they serious? Was it Belle, or was it Bella? These were

crucial questions. Ben’s ex now had a name. She’d interacted with people in the building. Noah had liked her.

“I should have more friends,” Kylie insisted. “All I’ve done this past decade was hop from job to job. Each one brought a

new friend group. Today, I couldn’t tell you where half those people are. I don’t have their numbers and can’t recall most

of their names. I’ve got to do better.”

“You got me,” Lily said. “We’ve spent a milestone birthday together. This means we’re friends for life.”

“Thanks, but you’re only here for the summer.”

“Take what you can get, Kylie,” Noah said. “Not everything has to last until the end of time.”

The sommelier dispatched to their table suggested a good, but not too good, bottle of champagne. They toasted to the birthday

girl, to friendship, to knowing what you don’t want and leaving the rest to chance, and to the fat commission that would pay

for dinner.